Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving the Trump administration “effective immediately,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced Wednesday evening, abruptly ending the tenure of one of President Trump’s highest-profile cabinet appointees in the middle of an active U.S. naval operation against Iran.
Parnell said in a post on X that Undersecretary of the Navy Hung Cao will step in to replace Phelan. Neither the Pentagon nor the White House offered a reason for the departure.
The announcement lands at an extraordinary moment for the Navy, which is helping enforce a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — one of the service’s largest operations in decades — as a fragile ceasefire between Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah strains against renewed incidents in the strait.
Phelan, a Palm Beach businessman and longtime Republican donor, was confirmed as Navy secretary in 2025 after he and his wife raised millions for Trump’s 2024 campaign. He had no prior military service before taking the job, a fact that drew early scrutiny from lawmakers during his confirmation.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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